Is it too late to paint my rusted rotor hats?
 

About 6 months ago I bought a set of drilled and slotted rotors from napa, never painted the hats, and now they are rusted bad! Not only the hats are rusted but also the "cooling fins" on the outside... Is there any way to paint them without removing the rotors, if so what should I do?

i did this to my stock rotors. With the help of the FL leghumpers we took off the calipers and rotors and painted them. First u have to clean off as much of the rust as possible. Its never too late :thumbs: (you dont have to remove the rotors, but since we spray painted them, it was easier than masking off half the car...

red

I'm going to do the same thing. That rust just drives you nuts, doesn't it?!?

They do sell covers, you can try that. I forget what vendors have them, someone may know.

Ecklers has the aluminum hat covers but they are kind of expensive. You can try and get as much rust off as possible, then maybe use a primer from a company like Krylon that seals off rust. Then paint the hats.

media blast, cad plate, or paint

Just painted mine about a month ago. Three days after install of my zinc wash D&S Brembo's they looked horrible :ack: ! I decided to tape off the caliper, bust rust, cover the body of the car to prevent overspray and they look amazing! :thumbs: Honestly they look professionally done. I have no pics to show (to dark outside) but trust me, just use some VHT Header paint(I used 2000 degree) and give them at least two good coats on the hats and you will love the look. Don't worry about getting a little paint on the rotor face, just don't intentionally paint the face. :nono: As far as painting the fins, I have tried it before and it is a PITA and you will get paint EVERYWHERE! I would'nt worry about the fins, you can't see them unless you have the wheels off anyway but the choice is yours. Good luck. :cheers:

Cool thanks for the info! One more question, I noticed that there are actually areas on the rotor itself that have dark (almost black spots) that makes it look almost burned or something? Any idea what might cause that, they looked so nice when I first got them too grrrrr.....

i saw some on ebay

WCC!

Cheaper at Ecklers......;)

http://www.nelsonresidence.com/vehic...20(Medium).JPG

I too want to know how to keep my drilled and slotted rotors clean.... is there any magic?
My rotors have 60,000 miles on them...

icemanskis painted the rotors w/ clear paint to protect the holes, send him a pm and he'll give you the link

Same story. I painted mine on the car. Cleaned rust with steel wool and sand paper then used rustoleum and a throw-away foam pad type brush. Lasted well over two years. Just refreshed this year and it looks great.

THanks for the help !

Hey icemanskis

Evil,

I used POR 20 brilliant aluminum on my eradispeeds (zinc lasted a week) http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=128 used a q tip on drilled holes and slots and the smallest disposable sponge brush at Home Depot to get in the vanes, this POR 20 is holding up great. Brake dust will collect in the slots but it brushes right off to reveal the paint. They say rust acts as a primer for this stuff.

Jeff

:) ;) :flag: :chevy

SWEET :thumbs:

If your brakes just see routine duty (i.e., not tracked), you can paint the hats and cooling fins with this stuff, which is good up to 800°F:
http://www.magnetpaints.com/images/RustDestroyer.jpg
It chemically bonds to the rusty metal and stops further rust permanently.

As someone else mentioned, there are also rotor hat covers available. I have a set of these (front only - unused) in black powder coat. PM me if interested.
http://www.ecklers.com/images/vette/44493.jpg